Automatic newspaper vendor



Nov. 6, 1962 N. CORDIS AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR Filed April 25, 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet l frzey.

Nov. 6, 1962 N. coRDls AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR 6 SheetsSheet 2 Filed April 25, 1955 Nov. 6, 1962 N. CORDIS 3,062,407

' AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR Filed April 25, 1955 GSheecs-Sheet s Nov. 6, 1962 Filed April 25, 1955 N. CORDIS AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Lr/nior'. 7742 607 6155.

rrz gy- Nov. 6, 1962 N. CORDIS AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 25, 1955 R m V o m n N. m T m o m A 6 Sheets-Sh eet 6 Filed April 25. 1955 United, States Patent ()fiice 3,062,407 AUTOMATIC NEWSPAPER VENDOR Nat Cordis, Crown Stock Farms, Silver Lake, Wis. Filed Apr. 25, 1955, Ser. No. 503,405 8 Claims. (Cl. 221-225) This invention relates to a vending machine for storing and dispensing newspapers and the like. More particularly, the invention pertains to an improved vending machine where the newspapers are held in a pack and an ejector mechanism is provided for removing the papersfrom the pack one by one.

Heretofore, many vending machines have been proposed for this purpose. However, newspapers are inherently difiicult to handle in vending machines because of the variation in the number of pages in different issues, because of their lack of a binding, because of the random arrangement of the assembled sheets, and because of the generally inferior quality of the paper stock which is readily torn in handling.

It is, therefore, an important object of the invention to provide a vending machine having a storage and delivery mechanism which is adaptable to papers of varying thickness. Another object is to provide a mechanism which makes a delivery of a single paper no matter how poorly the folding and assembling of the paper may have been. A further object is to provide a delivery mechanism which effectively dispenses a complete paper of any number of sheets or pages without injury to the paper by tearing or mutilation.

Heretofore, vendors for this general purpose have been unsatisfactory for the additional reason that although proper tensions and contacts of follower plates and ejector mechanism might be adjustable for a specific pack of units such as papers, these devices did not function properly when fully loaded to capacity or when nearly empty. Accordingly, it is an important object of this invention to provide a versatile device which is automatic and self-adjusting to the size of the individual units in the pack and to the total number of units in the device at any given time.

Another difiiculty of the ejector mechanism in the prior art is that it may engage only a portion of the folded paper and fail to discharge the paper through the delivery opening even though the ejector mechanism follows through its entire cycle.

it is, therefore, an additional object of this invention to provide a vending machine for newspapers which opcrates without injury to the newspapers and without requiring skill or great force on the part of the purchaser. A further object of the invention is the provision of a vending machine having a delivery mechanism which is associated with coin-controlled actuators.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which may be mass produced at low cost, is rugged and has a long life and which will withstand hard usage under the most adverse weather and operating conditions. It is also an object to provide a machine in which the disadvantages heretofore encountered have substantially been eliminated and which embodies a simple means for effecting the release and delivery of a single newspaper upon each operation. These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

Briefly, my invention comprises a casing or cabinet wherein the units such as folded newspapers, magazines and the like are positioned vertically in juxtaposition with a fold or binding edge downward. They are arranged in such a pack on a pair of guide rails with a follower backstop or plate arranged substantially normal to the rails and being urged forwardly by a spring-loaded mechanism toward the ejector mechanism. The ejector mecha- 3,062,407 Patented Nov. 6, 1962 nism selects a single copy from the pack to be ejected through a delivery slot means to the purchaser.

The selector-ejector mechanism includes a pair of spring-driven selector rollers mounted on a first drive shaft means arranged substantially transverse to the guide rails and forwardly thereof. The spring drive is also geared to an integral accelerator mechanism provided with a governor and having an output shaft which is disposed forwardly of said first drive shaft. The accelerator gear mechanism between the two drive shafts is such as to drive the second or output shaft at a high rate relative to the first shaft.

A pair of ejector discs provided with friction-engaging tires is mounted on the ends of said second accelerator output shaft. A combination wedge and cam means is provided for co-operation with each of said ejector or delivery discs whereby when turned in one direction the newspaper next to be delivered acts to brake the rotation of the delivery discs, whereas a rotation of the cam-wedge means in the opposite direction releases the wedged newspaper to be delivered by gravity and simultaneously the cam action is such as to momentarily reverse the direction of travel of the ejector discs thereby retarding the travel of the pack during the actual discharge of the selected newspaper. Upon the delivery of the selected newspaper, the cam-wedge means automatically returns to a wedging position thereby positioning the next newspaper for de-' livery from the vendor and cocking the device for a new cycle of operation.

The spring drive referred to above is self-winding in that a pulley is associated with each spring drive and. a cable means is wound about the pulley as the follow-up plate is moved rearwardly over the guide rails, one end of the cable being fixed to the follower plate.

The operation of the'ejector mechanism is controlled by a coin-released handle outside of the cabinet. The front wall of the cabinet is hinged along one edge and the coin-' operated mechanism is carried by the front wall or door.

These and'other specific features and improvements will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a prospective of the vendor;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the cabinet showing the general assembly; FIGURE 3 is another longitudinal vertical section showing details of the drive and delivery mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is an elevation with the entire front panel of the cabinet removed;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation of the front panel showing the coin-operated mechanism;

FIGURE 6 is a section taken along the line 66 in FIGURE 5; FIGURE 7 is a plan view (with the top wall of the cabinet removed) of the mechanism in FIGURES 2 and 3;

FIGURES 8 and 9 are top and end views respectively, partly in section, of the accelerator and delivery means;

FIGURE 10 is a section taken along the line 10-10 in FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 11 is a section viewed along the line 11-11 in FIGURE 8; and

FIGURE 12 is a section taken along the line 12-12 in FIGURE 8.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a cabinet 10 having a front hinged wall or door 11. A delivery slot 12 is caried by the wall 11 as are the coin operated mechanism 13 and the window 14 through which is viewed the newspaper. The operating handle 16 extends through the front wall 11 of the cabinet 10' and its operation and function will be described in more detail below. I

In FIGURES 2 and 3, comprising vertical sections a through the cabinet 10, the pack 17 of the newspapers is supported on the pair of guide rails 18-19, the guide rails in turn being supported on the carriage 20 which is slidable along the bottom wall of the cabinet 10.

The paper selector and ejector mechanism 21 (to be described in detail below) is maintained in operative relation to the ack 17 of newspapers, the selector wheels 22 and 23 being the first to contact the leading newspaper and to withdraw it from guide rails 18-19. These wheels 22 and 23 are provided with friction-engaging tires 24. As the selector wheels 22 and 23 are rotated forwardly on drive shaft 25 by spring drive 28, the newspaper is carried outwardly and downwardly until the folded edge falls in the valley between the cam-wedge elements and 31, mounted upon the oscillatable shaft 32 having stops 78 as shown in FIGURES 4 and 7, and the high speed ejector discs 26 and 27 on second shaft 29. Shaft 32 is moved in response to the motion of the handle 16 and serves to simultaneously release the selected paper 17a from the wedge 31 while retarding the forward motion of the next paper 17b through the action of cams 30 which contact the discs 26 and 27 and turn them rearwardly of the delivery slot.

The selector wheels 22 and 23 are fixed to shaft 25 and rotate with the pulleys 35 and 36 which serve as reels for the cables 37, each of which has one end fixed to the respective pulley 35-36 and the other fixed to the follower plate 38 which rides along the rails 18-19. Pushing the follower plate 38 rearwardly causes cables 37 to be unwound from the pulleys 35-36 and upon release of the plate the spring driven pulleys 35-36 wind up the cables 37 thereby urging the follower plate 38 forwardly along the guide rails 18-19 toward the paper selector-ejector mechanism 21.

To load the vendor, the door 11 is swung open after releasing lock 44. The retractable carriage 20 is then moved forward of the cabinet 10 bringing with it the selector-ejector mechanism 21 and the follower plate 38. The follower plate 38 having base 90 as shown in FIG- URE 7 is then pushed rearwardly of the selector-ejector mechanism on the carriage 2%) far enough to accommodate the pack 17 of newspapers to be dispensed. In so doing, the cables 37 unwind from the pulleys 35-36 which cause the contained springs 88 to wind up and to be placed under tension. After the papers are in position, the follower plate 38 is permitted to move forwardly of the rails 18-19 on rollers 81 and 82 and carriage 20 until the first paper from the pack 17 has moved over the drive wheels 22 and 23 end dropped into contact with the ejector discs 26 and 27 and the wedge means 31.

The key end of the shaft 32 supporting the wedges 31 is then slipped into the slot 47 in the operating arm 48 and the door 11 is swung about its hinge and locked. This completes the linkage between the handle 16 and the slotted arm 48, the lever 75 being placed under tension by the spring 73 and anchor plate 74 as shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 7.

To dispense a newspaper from the cabinet 10, a coin is inserted into the slot 40 and falls through chute 41 into the coin-operated mechanism 13 carried by the door 11. The coin completes the linkage operated by the handle 16 rotates pulley 67 and so that depressing the handle 16 causes the cable-pulley system 49 to turn the cam-wedge 30-31 on shaft 32 forwardly and thereby release the paper from wedge 30 while the cam 31 reverses the direction of rotation of the ejector discs 26 and 27. When the handle 16 is released, the shaft 32 retracts whereby the cam 30 releases the discs 26 and 27 and the wedge 31 is brought into position to catch the next paper and cause it to wedgedly stop the roattion of the high speed delivery discs 26 and 27.

These discs 26 and 27 are driven through the speed accelerator mechanism designated generally as 50 which is provided with a governor 51 of any commercially available type such as the gear-oil type. The accelerator 50 is in turn driven by the springs 88 housed within the 4 pulleys 35-36. Details of this unit are shown in FIG- URES 8 to 12, inclusive.

The accelerator 50 includes train of gears, one gear 52 being driven by drive shaft 25 on which the selector wheels 22 and 23 are carried. Gears 53 and 54 are used to drive the output shaft 29 at a high rate of speed, for example from about 3 to 100 times the speed of the direct drive shaft 25, the speed of which is controlled by the governor 51. A preferred speed ratio is about 35:1 since that has been found very satisfactory for selecting the newspaper from the pack 17 by selector wheels 22-23 and for ejecting it by discs 26-27 during the time interval available.

To minimize any tendency of the bottom edge of the first newspaper to precede the balance of the newspapers in the pack 17 along the guide rails 18-19, I provide a pair of elastic conveyor belts 55 trained about idler pulleys 56 and 57. The idler conveyor 55 is held in contact with the bottom of the pack 17 and moves forwardly with the pack 17 but is provided with a friction-engaging surface which serves to retain all of the papers in the pack in their initially closely packed arrangement.

A hinged cover 60 supported by hinged arms 60a may be provided for the delivery slot 12, this cover 60 being raised upon the actuation of the lever system 33 which is operated by the handle 16 through rod 32 and which causes the oscillation of the wedge means 31 as described above. The lifting of the cover 60 is, therefore, synchronized with the release of the wedge means 31 to permit the paper to fall through the slot 12 far enough for the purchaser to remove it even through the cover 60 has been released and is in contact with the upper face of the delivered paper.

Referring to the coin handling mechanism, if a coin is accepted it falls into box if the coin is rejected by 13, it falls into return slot 68. When the last paper 17 has been dispensed, the coin diverter chute 70 is positioned by weighted lever 66 so that the inserted coin falls into coin return slot 68. Although my invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof as applied to newspapers, it should be understood that this is by way of illustration only in that the invention is not limited to handling papers but may be applied to other units or articles. Furthermore, alternative embodiments and details of construction will become apparent to those skilled in the art in view of my foregoing disclosure. Accordingly, it is contemplated that changes in components and the arrangement of components can be made without departing from the spirit of my described invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A newspaper vending device comprising in combination a cabinet, a carriage means for supporting a pack of newspapers within said cabinet, follower means for moving the pack of newspapers over said carriage at an initial low rate of speed forwardly to a point of discharge from said cabinet, selector means for moving the foremost paper in said pack at an accelerated rate, and wedge-cam means for momentarily stopping the forward travel of the pack during discharge of the foremost paper.

2. In an article vending device of the type where a plurality of individual articles are stored within a cabinet for individual discharge in response to a coin-operated acutator means, the improvement which comprises a pair of support rails, means for moving the pack of articles at a slow rate forwardly over said rails toward a point of discharge, selector-drive means disposed adjacent the discharge end of said rails, a recharging spring means for driving said selector-drive means, a speed accelerator means associated with said spring means, a governor on said speed accelerator means, high speed output drive shaft extending from said speed accelerator means, rotated ejector means on said drive shaft for selectively separating only the foremost article from said forwardly moving pack, wedge means for mechanically stopping the travel of said ejector means and hence the travel of said selector means, said wedge means momentarily reversing the direction of rotation of said selector means while simultaneously permitting the gravitational discharge of said foremost article.

3. A newspaper vending device comprising a cabinet adapted to support a pack of bottom-folded papers, newspaper drive and selector mechanisms within said cabinet, a carriage within said cabinet for supporting a plurality of newspapers thereon, a pressure plate for forcing said newspapers over said carriage to a point of discharge, and a coin-operated mechanism actuated from the exterior of said cabinet for controlling the discharge of newspapers from said cabinet, the improvement which comprises a drive-selector means characterized by means for moving said pack at a fixed speed, means for initially separating a foremost paper from said pack by moving the foremost paper at a somewhat higher speed than the balance of the pack, means for rapidly moving said separated foremost paper to a point of final discharge, and means for momentarily stopping the travel of said pack at the time of discharging the foremost paper.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 which includes an endless belt below said pack for minimizing any tendency for the lower edges of the papers in said pack to precede the balance of the papers along the carriage.

5. An article vending device comprising in combination carriage means for supporting said articles within a cabinet means, pressure plate means for moving the articles en masse at an initial low rate of speed forwardly to a point of discharge from said cabinet, rotated means for separating the foremost article from the others, secondary drive means for moving the separated foremost article at a higher rate, and wedge-cam means for momentarily stopping the forward travel of the balance of the articles at the time of discharge of the foremost article.

6. A newspaper vending device comprising in combination a cabinet, a swingable door on the front of said cabinet, a dispensing carriage slidably mounted along the base of said cabinet, said carriage including a pair of guide rails adapted to support the folded edge of a plurality of newspapers in a vertical stack, a pressure plate slidable on said carriage above said rails and adapted to be moved to the rear of the carriage, a cable and pulley means for applying a driving force to said pressure plate, said pulley means including a pair of spaced helically grooved pulleys mounted in axially spaced relation on a single shaft, a gear accelerator mechanism operatively associated with said shaft, a pair of spring drive means mounted within said pulleys and having one end thereof anchored to the shaft and the other end to the pulley, a pair of rotatable selectors fixed to said pulleys, said selectors having a radius which is substantially greater than the radius of said pulleys, a paper-engaging tire means on the periphery of each of said selectors, an output shaft on said accelerator mechanism disposed forwardly of said first drive shaft, a pair of ejector discs fixed to opposite ends of said output shaft, friction-engaging tire means on the periphery of each of said high speed ejector discs, a cable fixed to the base of said cabinet and threaded about said pulleys, cable guide means fixed to said carriage and extending over the periphery of each of said pulleys, whereby pushing said pressure plate rearwardly of said carriage causes said cable to wind up the springs within said pulleys, gear means between said first shaft and said output drive shaft, the ratio of said gear means being such as to drive the selectors at a speed somewhat in excess of the speed of travel of said cable onto said pulley, and to drive the said second ejector discs at a ratio of about 35:1 to the rotational speed of said selectors, paper-stop means mounted forwardly of said selectors and discs, said stop means including a horizontally disposed shaft journaled in said carriage, a pair of rotatable wedges on said shaft, each Wedge comprising a pair of spaced plates embracing the second drive discs, and coin-releasable actuating means for controlling the oscillation of said paper-stop means.

7. A newspaper Vending device comprising a cabinet adapted to support a pack of bottom-folded papers which comprises in combination a pair of upwardly inclined guide rails providing a bed for said pack, a pressure plate movable along said guide rails, a drive-paper selector means mounted forwardly of said guide rails, said lastnamed means including a spring drive means, a speed accelerator gear means, a first pair of pulleys in direct drive relation with said spring drive means, cable means having one end anchored to one of said pulleys and the other end fixed to said pressure plate, a pair of frictional drive wheels arranged to rotate with said pulleys, said wheels having a larger radius than said pulleys so as to provide a. rotational speed differential therebetween, a pair of high speed selector discs fixed to shaft means driven by said speed accelerator means, said high speed discs having low power and a high rotational speed of about 35 times that of the first pair of direct drive wheels, paper ejector means mounted forwardly of said drive wheels and said selector wheels, said ejector means providing a paper stop means, means for oscillating said ejector forwardly to permit the first newspaper to fall by gravity and simultaneously to engage the high speed selector wheels so as to reverse their direction of travel momentarily a limited distance thereby accentuating the separation of the foremost newspaper from the pack, and coinoperated actuator means for operating said ejector through its oscillating motion for each paper discharge.

8. A newspaper vending device comprising in combination a cabinet having an open front, a door for said cabinet mounted on a vertical hinge and supporting a coinoperated release mechanism, a discharge slot in said door, a slidable carriage within said cabinet, said carriage supporting a pair of paper guide rails, a pressure plate slidable along said guide rails, and a selector-drive mechanism mounted on the forward end of said guide rails, said selector-drive mechanism including a spring drive means, a pulley means, a speed accelerator gear means, a pair of shafts extending from said speed accelerator means, a first pair of paper-selector wheels provided with friction-engaging tires, said wheels having a rotational speed greater than the rotational speed of said pulleys, a pair of paper ejector discs provided with friction-engaging tire mounted on said second shaft, the rotational speed of said ejector discs being in the ratio of about 35:1 of said driving wheels, a governor mechanism on the accelerator, stop means mounted forwardly of said ejector discs, stop comprising a pair of oscillatable wedges, each of said wedges being of substantial width and being provided with a recess to accommodate said ejector discs, and linkage means between said coin-released actuating mechanism on said door for releasing said stop means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 859,853 Stewart July 9, 1907 918,882 Mills Apr. 20, 1909 951,323 Mathewson Mar. 8, 1910 1,022,680 Johnson Apr. 9, 1912 1,677,939 Vinogradov July 24, 1928 2,314,632 Rear Mar. 23, 1943 

